Who Benefits?

I like the notion of a company having a trust fund its employees can dip into for things like emergencies or pensions.  It projects an image of stability, of a company that cares for its people.  However, if the said fund is being used in the same way as PLDT is using its employees’ Beneficial Trust Fund (BTF), people had better start asking where the company is putting the money. 

The BTF is being turned into something like a shell under which PLDT has been setting up a diverse lot of new businesses, top among which is Media Quest Holdings Inc., a company active in local radio, television, and print.  Which begs the question: who’s the real beneficiary here?  The employees or those stuffed shirts in power who call the shots?

Lawyers and law-makers are giving PLDT dirty looks because of this.  Was the BTF really created for the benefit of its Filipino employees or is it just a way for the telco’s foreign owners to get around the constitutional limit on the ownership of public utilities such as telecommunications and energy? 

What I find particularly worrisome is that PLDT’s Filipino employees cannot elect a trustee onto the BTF’s Board and they don’t have a say in the way the money handled by the fund is either invested or disposed of.  Employees are actually worried that they might end up holding an empty bag in case all those shell companies fail or if those Indonesians ruling the roost suddenly fly the proverbial coop.  Just my two cents: the powers-that-be ought to look into this – and look into it thoroughly.